It does strike me that with so few guns broadside they could have had a higher rate of fire. This could easily have been explained as due to the overall quality of space marine vessels and allowed them to do at least slightly more competitive damage. Changing the point costs of the ships would not be necessary.

Imperator5 wrote:Support vessels need something to support. Without that they are not a good idea.

Yeah, Vanguards are the worst cruisers ever. They got 2 dps all around.

DAuntless got 7 dps front or 8 dps side.

Hellbringers got 6 all around or 8 on the side, with 2 dps being ap.

Both got 200 more health.

My first battle against Space Marines (which by the way, were labeled as Imperial Navy in ship choice window, SS mode), I'm excited for my first engagement vs loyalist scum (especially since they were ultrasmurfs)... I had Despoiler and Styx in my fleet and each time bombers were off-cooldown one vanguard was down. Kinda disappointed but gotta play more against them. Battle Barge and other vessels didn't disappoint tho.

Boy am I glad I didn't pay actual cash for this DLC! Overall I'm not impressed at all with the new ships for marines and their balance with the other factions. The only tactic I've come across that even has a hope of wining before I get the BB is to spam guided boarding torps. It seems like all their broadsides fire way too slowly for consistent damage to even take down shields reliably. The bombardment cannon seems like it fires a touch to slowly as well or could use a slight damage buff. Vanguards and SC's could also use a slight health buff as well. For having some what tanky ships on the table top, the new ships don't transfer well at all. I seem to spend a good 80% of the time using brace to make them more survivable. For the points cost per ship, you're always outnumbered and the quality of the ships just isn't there right now to compensate.

I'm mainly an Ork player and streamer. From what I've seen so far (only level 2), I'll have to agree with some of the guys about the way to play the early game. Vanguard are fast, have great boarding/assault, great guns, but weak armour. That Orks finally have a faction with the balls to get in close and brawl it out. All of the IN players i've faced have spammed torps and nova cannon from a cloud and if you get close they MWJ around like a 3 legged cat i a dog pound. Sure there's some kinks to work out but Overall with my playstyle I'm impressed with the Space Marines.

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." - Carl Sagan

Lucinator wrote:Maybe its just me but I feel that the Space Marines really dont hold up well to the other races. Their DPs seems too low. And while I can run circles around A.I. I dont feel that that tactic would work well in multiplayer, too many counters to their ordinance and the tactics needed to use them. Also their ships are just too fragile. I'm also disappointed with how the chapters are really just paint schemes with no game-play impact, and will be irrelevant when custom colors comes in.

Thoughts?

Space marine ships are not fragile it is the AP ammo that make them so fragile when fighting chaos and imperials. Remove AP and the SM will be fine with lances being their only weakness.

Lucinator wrote:Maybe its just me but I feel that the Space Marines really dont hold up well to the other races. Their DPs seems too low. And while I can run circles around A.I. I dont feel that that tactic would work well in multiplayer, too many counters to their ordinance and the tactics needed to use them. Also their ships are just too fragile. I'm also disappointed with how the chapters are really just paint schemes with no game-play impact, and will be irrelevant when custom colors comes in.

Thoughts?

Space marine ships are not fragile it is the AP ammo that make them so fragile when fighting chaos and imperials. Remove AP and the SM will be fine with lances being their only weakness.

agreed. and the AP problem is something I've been warning against since the beta